Slaughter, J.
The federal Motor Carrier Act of 1980 requires some motor carriers to maintain minimum levels of financial responsibility. One way carriers can comply with these requirements is by adding an MCS-90 endorsement to their insurance policy. This endorsement provides that if a motor vehicle is involved in an accident, the insurer may be required to pay any final judgment against the insured arising out of the accident. We must decide whether, under either federal or state law, the MCS-90 endorsement applies to an accident that occurred during an intrastate trip transporting non-hazardous property. We hold it does not.
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In Part A, we hold under the plain language of the MCS-90 and the weight of federal authority that the endorsement does not apply to intrastate trips transporting non-hazardous property as a matter of federal law. In Part B, we hold that the endorsement also does not apply under Indiana law because the state statute incorporating the federal regulations does not expand the regulations’ scope.
A.
Under section 30 of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, certain motor carriers must maintain minimum levels of financial responsibility. 49 U.S.C. § 31139. The governing statutes and regulations ensure a motor carrier “has independent financial responsibility to pay for losses sustained by the general public arising out of its trucking operations.” Travelers Ins. Co. v. Transport Ins. Co., 787 F.2d 1133, 1140 (7th Cir. 1986). Motor carriers have three options to comply with the financial responsibility requirements, one of which is at issue here: the Form MCS90 endorsement. 49 C.F.R. § 387.7(d)(1).
The MCS-90 is an endorsement to an underlying insurance policy between the motor carrier and its insurer. The endorsement “obligates an insurer to pay certain judgments against the insured . . . even though the insurance contract would have otherwise excluded coverage.”…
Appellees argue that the “clear and unambiguous language” of the MCS-90 dictates that it applies to this accident. We disagree….
But section 30, codified at 49 U.S.C. § 31139, is relevant. It provides that the minimum financial responsibility requirements apply to motor carriers transporting property “in the United States between a place in a State” and (A) “a place in another State”; (B) “another place in the same State through a place outside of that State”; or (C) “a place outside the United States”. 49 U.S.C. § 31139(b)(1); 49 C.F.R. § 387.3(a). In other words, these requirements apply when a motor carrier transports property in foreign or interstate commerce. They also apply when a motor carrier in intrastate commerce transports hazardous property. 49 U.S.C. § 31139(d)(1); 49 C.F.R. § 387.3(b). Thus, section 30’s financial responsibility requirements apply in only two circumstances: first, when a motor carrier transports property in foreign or interstate commerce; second, when a motor carrier transports hazardous property in foreign, interstate, or intrastate commerce. And because the MCS-90 applies only when the motor carrier is subject to section 30’s requirements, the MCS-90 also applies only in these circumstances.
Brown was neither engaged in interstate commerce at the time of the accident nor transporting hazardous property. Thus, we hold that the MCS-90 endorsement does not apply under either federal or state law. We affirm the trial court’s judgment that Progressive has no duty to defend or indemnify Brown and reverse its judgment that the MCS-90 endorsement applies here.
Rush, C.J., and David, Massa, and Goff, JJ., concur.